What is IP Address? What is DNS?

For one computer to connect to another computer and transfer information, the IP address of that computer should be known. This IP Address is made of numbers. The 32 Bit IP address is divided into 4 sections of 8 bits each separted by a ‘.’ (dot). Each 8 bit is called an Octet. The value of each Octet will vary between 0 to 255.

For example, 203.116.56.34 is an IP address. As you can see there are four sections each separated by a dot.

Name Vs Number

If someone asks you whose phone number is 98343453 you may not know it. But instead if someone asks you whether you know ‘John peters’ immediately you will remember your friend. The reason is names are easier to remember than numbers. This is human nature.

In internet, there is a need to connect to a lot of different computers daily. If you have to remember the IP address of each computer in the internet, it is impossible. Because IP Address is made of numbers.

That’s why, computer scientists decided to give a name to each of these IP addresses. These computer names that represent IP addresses are called ‘Domain Names’. For example, www.yahoo.com is a domain name. It is easy to remember a name. Isn’t it?

Every computer that connects to the internet has a unique IP Address. Most of the computers especially servers will have a domain name.

DNS – Domain Name System

If you need to connect to a computer in the internet, you can use the IP address of that computer or the Domain Name of that computer.

But the computers need just the IP addresses. For our own convenience we use domain names. Therefore when we use the domain name, for example www.yahoo.com, our computer will first find out the IP address of this domain name and then uses the IP address to connect to it.

Let us assume that the IP address of the computer that you want to connect to is 123.232.231.132 and the domain name of this computer is www.xyz.com .

Now you connect to Internet, open your browser and key in the IP address 123.232.231.132 in the address bar and ‘Enter’. The browser will immediately connect to the computer because the computer knows how to use the IP address.

Now imagine that you typed the domain name www.xyz.com instead of the IP address in the browser. What the computer needs is the IP address not the domain name. Therefore the browser will try to find the IP address for the domain www.xyz.com . For this purpose it will contact the DNS (Domain Name System) server. The DNS server will find the IP address of that domain and will return the IP address to your browser. Then your computer will use that IP address to connect to that computer.

If you type the IP address, the browser will access that site immediately. If you type the domain name, there will be slight delay because the browser has to connect to DNS server first to determine the IP address. If for some reasons this DNS server is down or there is not DNS entry for that domain, then that domain name or website address will not be accessible.

TooManyTabs Firefox addon

Almost all browsers today use the tabbed browsing concept. So you only open a single browser but open multiple tabs each pointing to a different website. This is of course a good thing. But the more tabs you use, the more RAM memory the browser will be consuming.

At any point of time you can only view a single tab. However all the other tabs that are open are also consuming RAM memory. To solve this problem the TooManyTabs addon can be used in Firefox browsers. What it does is to create a waiting lounge where all unused tabs are parked. These parked tabs will appear as open but will be inactive. They will become active only when the tab is activated. This greatly reduces the RAM memory usage increasing the computer performance. This addon creates a toolbar just above the normal tabs. You can just drag and drop the tabs that you want to park, into this toolbar. Then when you want to reactivate the parked tab just drag and drop from this toolbar back to the normal tabs space

Is IE loosing the battle?

IE seems to be loosing the browser battle. There have been reports that show that IE’s rival browsers are gaining grounds.

A recent study done by Net Applications which involved over 40,000 websites and a lot of technologies in August and September 2009 showed the usage of different browsers in the internet. According to this study, the usage of IE has reduced from 67% to 65.7%. The usage firefox which was introduced five years ago has gained traction. Firefox users have increased from 23% to 23.8%. Apple’s Safari users have increased from 4.1% to 4.2%. Google Chrome users have increased from 2.8% to 3.2%. Opera users have increased from 2% to 2.2%. Do not think that this figure is too small. Considering the billions of total internet users this figure is too high.

Recently firefox released its 3.5 version which introduced many new features including faster java execution and built in vide. According to Microsoft even though the IE users are decreasing the IE8 users are increasing

Firefox getting better

Firefox is continuously getting more and more users. Mozilla has announced more features in future versions of firefox. These changes will be done in two phases. In first phase the changes will be done in version 3.7 which will happen in the beginning of 2010.

Mozilla feels that the front page of the firefox browser is a bit dull. In line with the Vista style firefox broswer’s front page will be modified. Only two menu items with Page and Tools will be provided. Stop and reload buttons will be merged. Address bar and search bar will be merged into a single bar. Status bar will be removed. Some said that these changes were much in line with Google’s chrome browser. But Mozilla said firefox will always be unique.

Since all the browsers do the same thing, comparisons are inevitable. However there are always unique features in every browser. As of today, there are more users using firefox than users with IE 6.

The main reason for most users to switch to firefox was because of the complaint that IE 6 has issues with Adware and spyware. But a recent research done by Sensic shows that firefox browser is more prone to hackers than IE. According to this report, firefox is 44%, Safari is 35% and IE is 15% prone to hackers. Though the accuracy of this report is in question now, firefox’s plugins are still a question mark. The plugins are more prone to hackers.

Firefox version 3.7 is supposed to be released in early 2010 and version 4 is to be released roughly in a year from now. Hopefully all the problems will be solved and new features will be added in the newer versions.

Shortcut keys in MS Word

CTRL+B : To make the words bold. 
CTRL+I : To italicize the words 
CTRL+U: To underline the words 
CTRL+DEL: To delete the word on the right of the cursor 
CTRL+BACKSPACE:  To delete the word on the left of the cursor  
CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR: To create equal spacing.  
CTRL+C:  To copy the selected text   
CTRL+X:  To cut the selected text  
CTRL+V:  To paste the copied or cut text.  
CTRL+ALT+V:  To paste special   
CTRL+SHIFT+< : To reduce the font size  
CTRL+SHIFT+>: To increase the font size  
CTRL+[ : To reduce the font size 
CTRL+]:  To increase the font size  
CTRL+HYPHEN:  To create continuous hiphen  
CTRL+SPACEBAR: To remove paragraph or character formatting  
CTRL+SHIFT+V: To paste the previously used format  
CTRL+Z : To undo the last action  
CTRL+Y:  To redo the last action that was undone.  
CTRL+SHIFT+G: To bring the word count dialog box.  
CTRL+L:  To align text to the left  
CTRL+E:  To centralize the text  
CTRL+R: To alogin the text to the right of the screen.  
CTRL+M:  To make the paragraph or the selected text in the margin. 
CTRL+1:  To make the spacing between lines as 1  
CTRL+5:  To make the spacing between lines as 1.5  
CTRL+2:  To make the spacing between lines as double  
F7: :  To check spelling and grammer  
SHIFT+F7 : : To show thesaurus options  
CTRL+SPACE : To enable/disable auto correct  
CTRL+SHIFT+8:  To show/hide hidden characters.

Think Point – Fake security software attacking the web

If you’ve come across Think Point antispyware software – be aware. It is a fake program created with intention to trick scared computer users into purchasing a useless full version.

The infection sources may vary, but most popular ones include installing a video codec on an untrustworthy site, opening an e-mail attachment from a falsified e-mail named after a courier company (such as DHL, or FedEx), pop-up’s, or as even some users reported, while playing a game on Facebook.

After clicking on fake warning messages, a Trojan is installed which opens up a “backdoor” to internet. An automated script does a series of instructions hijacking your browser and changing registry entries that result in an unusable computer – desktop icons are removed, task manager and internet connection is disabled.

Some users may be presented with a Microsoft Security Essentials Alert which is actually created by the Think Point infection. This alert promotes five security programs, including Think Point. While one is given a choice to select, Think Pont will be installed no matter what you choose.

Think Point will perform a computer scan which generates a false report including massive amounts of Trojans, viruses and spyware being found your machine. It is also impossible to run any executable application, because all is blocked by Think Point – a message will be popped up stating that executable file is already infected.

All this is done in order to scare an amateur computer user and force him into purchasing a full version, which costs 90$.

Please print these instructions:

1.       As ThinkPoint infection is not giving any access to the Desktop you must restart Windows. Just after Windows boots up, press CTRL + ALT & DEL on your keyboard at once. This should bring up the Windows Task Manager.

2.       In the Task Manager window select the Processes tab on the top.

3.       Look through the list of processes until you find the hotfix.exe process.

4.       Click left mouse button on it and press END PROCESS button situated at the bottom of the Task manager. Windows should ask you to confirm killing the process, select Yes to terminate hotfix.exe .

5.       Now ThinkPoint was disabled, and you should restore a normal desktop by clicking File menu on the Task manager, select New Task (Run) and type iexplorer.exe in the OPEN field. This will grant you access to the Internet Explorer.

6.       After this you must search and delete the hotfix.exe file on your computer which may be hidden.

7.       If after deleting the file and rebooting the pc you’re still left with a blank desktop repeat step 5. You will need to fix various registry settings or use a popular and trustworthy security program.

Download free Desktop Security software

When you are not near your computer other people can enter and read your files in your computer. They may edit them or even delete them. They can read you emails. They can format your hard disk. They can do anything they want with your computer.

In an office environment, this type of computer sabotage is possible. There are many software and applications related to ‘Desktop Security’. If you install a ‘Desktop security’ application in your computer, then you can prevent others from using your computer. If you require you can give permissions for a few.

Here are some of the desktop security software that you can use:

1. Access Denied
   Users of Windows 95/98/ME can use this application. You can install it and be sure that your computer is safe from strangers. When you boot your computer, it will prompt for the username and password. So only you can login to the computer.
   With ‘Access Denied’ you can give a unique username, passwords to your friends to access your computer. Later you can see the log file and see the time logged in and logged out by these users. So you will know exactly who used your computer.
   Another feature in Access Denied software is to block the F4 and F8 keys while the computer is booting. You can do this by choosing ‘Security->No Book Keys’ option.
   Another feature in Access Denied is the ‘Screen Guard’. This ‘Screen Guard’ feature is very handy. You can configure ‘mouse click’ or ‘hot key’ to hide the desktop whenever you want. If anybody tries to access, it will prompt for the username and password.
   Access Denied will also deny booting from floppy or CD.
   You can download ‘Access Denied’ fromhttp://www.johnru.com/accessdenied
2. Lock Out Desktop Security
   Lockout Desktop Security can be used to create policies and permissions for groups and users. You can block access to certain applications. You can block access to CD Drive. You can specify time period when people can access and when they cannot.
   You can download Lockout Desktop security software fromhttp://www.soft32.com/
3. Desktop Lock
   You can download Desktop lock fromhttp://www.toplang.com/desktoplock.htm
   Like other Desktop security applications desktop lock allows you to prevent access to specific applications, documents etc.
4. Mouse Trap
   To lock the desktop and to allow access only by logging in using username/password you can use the ‘Mouse Trap’ application. Mouse Trap also prevents the use of ‘Ctrl+Alt+Del’ and ‘Alt+Tab’ and any other system keys. You can download Mouse Trap from http://www.hotwww.com/
5. Boot Locker
   You can download Boot Locker from http://www.bootlocker.com/bl . You can use boot locker to create many users and groups. You can use this to disable and change password compulsary at frequent intervals.
   To find the latest available free desktop security software search google with the following search term http://www.google.com/search?q=%22desktop+security%22+download

Use Password protected ‘Screen Saver’ to increase security

You can give a password to your screen saver and make it active whenever your computer boots up. Those who do not know the password cannot enter your computer. Let us see how you can protect your computer from unwanted users accessing your computer.

To create Screen Save with Password

Right click on the blank space of your desktop and select ‘Properties’. In the new dialog box, click on the ‘Screen Saver’ tab. Select any screen saver of your choice. For example let us assume you chose ’3D Flying Objects’.

Now click on the ‘Password Protected’ check box and select it. Then click on the ‘Change’ button. In the new dialog box that opens key in your password.The effectiveness of the protection depends on your password, therefore select a password that is not easy to guess but is easy for you to remember. It is better to keep a password lengthy. Confirm your password by typing again and click on the ‘OK’ button.

You will see the ‘The password has been successfully changed’ information. Click ‘OK’ and close that box. Then finally click on the ‘OK’ button and close the ‘Properties’ dialog box.

To bring the Screen save shortcut to the desktop

The screen saver will only take effect only when your computer is idle for a specified time without any activity. What if you leave your computer and before the screen saver takes effect somebody else stars using your computer. To prevent this from happening you can create a shortcut to your screen saver and activate it whenever you leave your computer.

To create shortcut to the screen saver in the desktopn right click on the blank space of your computer and click ‘New Shortcut’. You will now see the ‘Create Shortcut’ dialog box, click on ‘Browse’ button and select teh screen saver execution file which can be found at c:/windows/system folder. In the ‘File of type’ drop down list choose ‘All Files’. Now in the list of files, scroll and look for the screen saver file (for eg. 3d flying objects) and double click on it. Then click on the ‘Next’ button then give a suitable name for your shortcut and then click on ‘Finish’ button.

Now the shorcut is visible on the shortcut. Whenever you leave your computer just double click this screen saver shortcut and activate your screen saver. Now if anyone wants to use it, when they move the mouse or click any button on the keyboard, the screen saver will prompt for the password. Since he will not know your password he cannot enter your computer.

To add screen saver shortcut to the windows ‘startup folder’

You may know that the programs inside the starup folder will automatically start when you boot your computer. Now you should bring the desktop screen saver shortcut to this startup folder. The reason is, after you shut down your computer if someone tries to start your computer without your knowledge then the screen saver will automatically prompt for the password.

Start your Windows Explorer. Choose the C:/windows folder and look for the ‘Desktop’ folder. Inside this desktop folder look for the short cut that you created. If the files are not visible then click on the ‘View-Folder Options’ menu, select the ‘View’ tab and select ‘Show all files’ option and click ‘OK’ button. In the file list selct the ’3dfo’ shortcut and copy it (Ctrl + C).

Now goto the Windows/startmenu/programs/startup folder. Now paste it here (Ctrl + V). Now close the windows explorer.

From now on when you boot your computer the screen saver will be activated and prompt for the password. Only if you key in the right password you can enter your computer.

If your friend is a bit clever then he may start your computer in ‘Safe Mode’ and enter your computer. Because in ‘Safe Mode’ it will not prompt for password. Then he can goto the start programs startup folder and delete the screen saver shortcut from that folder.

Now your screen saver will not be active anymore. So bringing the screen saver to start up folder is not a fool proof method. But not many people will go to that extent of starting in safe mode and then deleting the screen saver shotcurt. So you can still use this method.

How to remove hijack virus?

You may have read news about planes being hijacked. For example a passenger plane which is supposed to go to London may be hijacked by terrorists and flown to Turkey. The hijack virus does just that. If you key in a website address in your browser’s address bar and press ‘Enter’ then instead of going to that website the browser may open some other website such as an adult website or an advertisement website or a search engine website. If this happens in your computer then your browser has been infected by a hijack virus.

Why does this happen, you may wonder? This means a hijack virus has entered your computer without your knowledge and is working at its will. You can remove hijack virus and prevent it from happening using some software.

Process Guard is one such software. Just search for this software athttp://www.download.com/ and install it in your computer. This program will guard your computer against these hijack viruses

What is ‘Safe Mode’ booting?

While your computing is booting, you can instruct the computer to boot in ‘safe mode’. Safe mode refers to secure mode. You may then ask, is our computer not secure when we boot normally. Let us see how is safe mode more secure than the normal booting.

When your computer gives problems and you want to identify where is the problem, then you can use the safe mode for this. In safe mode, only limited number of driver programs are enabled. Therefore you cannot use CD drive. You cannot use the printer. And many other unnecessary drivers are not enabled.

While in Safe Mode, you can use the ScanDisk, defrag and other utility programs to repair your computer. You may wonder how to bring the computer to safe mode. When Windows boots up, you have to press the F8 key. You should press the F8 key before the windows screen appears. Then you can choose the safe mode option to boot.

Some Anti virus software will tell you that some viruses can only be removed in safe mode, therefore the antivirus software will automatically start in safe mode or you may have to goto safe mode and then run the virus removal utility to remove the virus.

Easy Duplicate Binder

While working with computer files we take copies of them and use them. But most of the times we forget to delete duplicate copies. Sometimes we save the file in the desktop or temp folders and backup folders. So multiple copies of the same file exists in the hard disk. This takes up hard disk space.

Only when we reach the hard disk space limit we realize this. But it will be too late to find the duplicate files. Fortunately there are some utilities available that can find duplicate files automatically and remove them. “Easy Duplicate Finder” is one such useful utility available from the internet.

You can find the file to download at http://www.easyduplicatefinder.com/. This program does not affect system files and folders. Then it will show you a list of duplicate files and let you decide which ones to delete.

How to Secure a Wireless Network from Hackers?

The reason we secure a wireless network is to stop people from using the services of our network who don't have permission to utilize them. It is harder to secure a wireless network from hackers as compared to a classic wired network. This is due to the fact that a wireless network can be accessed anywhere inside the range of its antenna.

In order to secure a wireless network from hackers, we should take proper steps to save ourselves against security issues. If you don't secure a wireless network from hackers, you might end up without its service. The consequence might also include the utilization of our network to attack further networks. To secure a wireless network from hackers, you should follow these simple wireless networking tips:

1.       Strategic antenna placement:

The first thing you have to do is to position the access point's antenna in a place which restricts the range of its signal to go further than the required area. You should not put the antenna close to a window because glass can't obstruct its signals. Place it in a central location of the building.

Use WEP:

WEP stands for Wireless encryption protocol.  It's a customary technique for encrypting traffic on a wireless network. You should never skip it as that will allow hackers to get instant access to the traffic over a wireless network.

3.       Change the SSID, disable the broadcast of SSID:

SSID stands for service set identifier.  It is the recognition thread utilized by the wireless access point due to which the customers are capable of starting connections. For every wireless access point arranged, select an exclusive as well as unique SSID. Also, if it's attainable, hold back the broadcast of the SSID out over the antenna. It won\t appear in the listing of offered networks, while being able to provide services as usual.

4.       Disable DHCP:

By doing this, the hackers will have to decode the TCP/IP parameters, subnet mask as well as the IP address in order to hack your wireless network.

5.       Disable or modify SNMP settings:

Change the private as well as public community settings of SNMP. You can also just disable it. Otherwise the hackers will be able to utilize SNMP to get significant info regarding your wireless network.

6.       Utilize access lists:

For additional security of your wireless network, and if your access point support this feature, employ an access list. An access list lets us determine precisely which machinery is permitted to attach to an access point. The access points which include the access list can employ trivial file transfer protocol (TFTP) now and then in order to download modernized lists to steer clear of hackers.

How to Protect Your Computer from Keyloggers

Keyloggers have been a major problem today as it does not require any prior knowledge of computers to use it. So hackers mainly use keyloggers to steal your passwords, credit card numbers and other confidential data. Below are some methods through which you can protect your computer from keyloggers:

Use a Good Antivirus

This is the first and basic step that you need to take in order to protect your computer from keyloggers. Use a Good antivirus such as Kaspersky, Norton or Mcafee and update it regularly.

Use a Good Antispyware

Since keyloggers are basically spywares, if you are a frequent user of Internet then you could be exposed to thousands of keyloggers and spywares. So you should use a good antispyware such as NoAdware.

Antilogger can be Handy

Antiloggers are programs that detect the presence of keyloggers on a given computer. Over past few years, I have tested a lot of anti-logging programs and have found Zemana Antilogger as the best antilogger.

Zemana

Normally a keylogger can be easily detected by a Good Antivirus program, but hackers use some methods such as hexing, binding, crypting and similar techniques to make it harder to be detected by antivirus programs. In this case Zemana Antilogger comes handy as the program is specially developed to protect your system against harmful keyloggers.

Online Scanning

When ever you receive a suspicious file, you scan it with online scanners such as Multi engine antivirus scanner which scans your file with 24 antivirus engines and reports it back to you if the file is recognized as a virus or spyware. This ensures that none of the malicious programs can escape from being detected as there are 24 different antivirus engines are involved in the scanning process.

Sandboxie

Sandboxie is another great program to help you protect your computer against harmful keyloggers and spywares. Sandboxie runs your computer in an isolated space which prevents your program from making permanent changes to other programs in your computer.

When ever you receive a file that looks suspicious, just run the program with Sandboxie so even if it is a keylogger or any other virus it will not make permanent changes to your computer system.

To run a program in Sandboxie follow the steps as mentioned below:

1. Open sandboxie and click on sandbox menu on the top

2. Now goto Default sandbox

3. Then click on run any program

4. Now select the file you wish to run in sandboxie and click open

Keyscrambler

Keyscrambler is one of the best protection against keyloggers that you can have, Keyscrambler is a small program which encrypts your typed keystrokes so even if the victim has installed a keylogger on your system, he or she will get encrypted keys. Keyscrambler currently supports Firefox, Internet explorer and other applications, however its premium version supports more than 160 applications.

How to Repair Registry of Windows PC

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This article explains how to inspect and repair registry errors to improve the performance of your PC. If you are a Windows user then you will most probably be aware of the fact that the registry gets corrupted over time resulting in an overall decreased performance of your computer. At times registry errors can also make your PC to freeze down and hang up every now and then causing a serious annoyance to the user. At this point, the registry needs a serious repair to bring your PC back to it’s life. Well before I tell you how to repair the registry lets see what causes registry to get corrupted.

Registry errors may occur due to installing too many applications/softwares from time to time without verifying the publishers. This may create invalid entries in the registry hive leading to errors. With the Internet boom and the era of freeware with free downloads, people often install programs from untrusted sources which results in serious damage to the registry. Since the registry is a crucial component of the Windows operating system, damage to this registry can cause system performance to drop down considerably.

How to Repair the Registry?

The best and the easiest way to repair your registry is by using a Registry Repair Tool (Registry Cleaner) which will automatically scan the registry to find invalid entries and will repair it by removing the errors with in no time. A registry cleaner is the simple and safest solution to repair registry and bring your PC back to it’s life without the need to re-install the Windows. We recommend the following registry cleaner to repair the Windows registry

Perfect Optimizer

Perfect Optimizer is one of the best and award winning registry cleaner that repairs registry to avoid PC errors such as unwanted shutdown, freezing, crashing and more. Perfect optimizer will

• Repair registry and increases your PC performance by upto 70%
• Repair registry to fix DLL errors and invalid shortcuts
• Free up virtual memory to avoid error messages
• Performs Defragmentation and Compression of the registry
• Repair registry to fix blue screen errors, system crashes, startup errors and more…

Visit Perfect Optimizer Homepage for more information on this program.

Can I Manually Repair the Registry?

Windows registry has a very complex structure with hundreds of thousands of entries embedded in it. A corrupt registry may contain thousands of invalid entries and errors in it and hence it is impractical and almost impossible to manually inspect, find and repair those errors. Also manual registry repair involves serious risk and can lead to a total system break down if done improperly. Except you are a highly experienced Windows user or a Windows expert, users are not encouraged to tamper with the registry.

Hence using a registry repair tool is the safest and easiest way to repair the registry and improve the overall performance of your PC. Registry repair tools will not only repair the registry but also maintains it’s health in a good condition so as to avoid any future damage to it. It is recommended that you periodically (daily or weekly) perform registry scans using these tools to repair the errors as and when they come up and keep your PC’s health at it’s best. Repair the registry and make your PC blazing fast like never before!

10 Tips to Avoid Getting Adware

Adware, malware, spyware and viruses can bring your system to its knees. They are detrimental, lowering the performance of your computer. You might need to replace data. You might lose unique files. Keep the nasties away from your computer using these ten simple tips.

1. Use Firefox: Internet Explorer is the most popular browser on the market, controlling over 50% of the market share. The virus and adware creators specifically look for exploitable vulnerabilities within IE because they know that they will receive the best return on investment. Your switch to Firefox prevents some adware from infecting your machine.

2. Scan your PC once a week: Sometimes adware programmers take a sneaky approach. They will set up their programs to run quietly in the background to spy upon your activities. This once a week scan is necessary to remove any of those sneaky bugs.

3. Download from known sites: New sites for installing adware are popping up all the time. If you find something that you want to download, make sure that it is from a known site. A company like Amazon will not steer you wrong, but Bob’s House of Wares might be a little less trustable. If you are not sure whether you can trust a site, perform a quick search.

4. Install Adaware: Ad-Aware is the most popular free adware removal program on the market. It detects, quarantines and removes adware. It searches for other programs which may have been installed, highlighting them in an easy to use interface. This program does not have an anti-virus attached.

5. Do not click on unsolicited email: You are constantly receiving offers to increase this or improve that through unsolicited email. Your curiosity may be killing you, but don’t click on these emails. They accept your click as permission to install adware, spyware and malware on your PC.

6. Install Antivirus software: Installing two programs for virus and adware protection is a smart idea. It caters to the strengths of each program, increasing the overall strength of your antiadware and antiviral campaign. Some of the best antivirus software is free, providing real time protection. Programs to look at would be Avast Antivir and AVG.

7. Don’t install toolbars: Even some reputable sites install custom toolbars. They slow your system down and collect information about your surfing habits. While a toolbar might offer some perks, it may also diminish your experience by dragging your system to a halt. Toolbars from less reputable places install adware and sometimes infect your system outright.

8. Look at your task manager: If anything seems out of place with your computer, take a look at your task manager. This tells you about all of the programs and processes which are running on your computer. Examine the processes tab for anything which you don’t immediately recognize. Perform a web search for unfamiliar processes.

9. Do not click on popups: Clicking on a popup usually spells certain doom for your computer. It opens the door for the viruses and adware that want to infect your machine, telling these malicious applications to make themselves at home. Stay away from those constantly advertised screensavers and icons.

10. Trust your gut: If you don’t feel right about a site, don’t go there. If you are receiving warnings from the antivirus and antiadware programs which you’ve installed, don’t go there. If you don’t like the layout of a site, don’t go there. Trust your instincts about sites.

With proper vigilance, you can keep aggravating adware, spyware and malware from your machine. Trust your instincts. Install Ad-Aware and an antivirus program. Play it safe. The care you spend in preventing adware from infecting your machine can save money and time.

How to Test the Working of your Antivirus – EICAR Test

Have you ever wondered how to test your Antivirus software to ensure it’s proper working? Well here is a quick and easy way to test your antivirus. The process is called EICAR test which will work on any antivirus and was developed by European Institute of Computer Antivirus Research. This process can be used by people, companies and antivirus programmers to test the proper functioning of the antivirus/antimalware software without having to deal with the real computer virus which can cause damage to the computer. Here is a step-by-step procedure to test your antivirus.

1. Open a notepad (New Text Document.TXT) and copy the following code exactly onto it, and save the notepad.

          X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

2. Rename the file from New Text Document.TXT to myfile.com

3. Now run the antivirus scan on this myfile.com file.

If the antivirus is functioning properly on your computer, then it should generate a warning and immediately delete the file upon scanning. Otherwise you may have to re-install your antivirus.

            
NOTE: Most antivirus will pop-out a warning message in the Step-1 itself

You can also place the myfile.com file in a ZIP or RAR file and run a scan on it so as to ensure whether your antivirus can detect the test string in the compressed archive. Any antivirus when scanning this file will respond exactly as it will do for a genuine virus/malicious code. This test will cause no damage to your computer even though the antivirus will flag it as a malicious script. Hence it is the safest method to test the proper functioning of any antivirus.